System and method for matching an offer with a quote

Abstract

Described is a system and method for matching a customer's offer for travel services with quotes from providers of those travel services in a way that allows the providers to negotiate preferential treatment. An online travel service exchanger receives an offer from a customer for travel services, such as airfare. The online travel service exchanger attempts to satisfy the customer's offer by retrieving from a global distribution system one or more quotes for the identified travel services. Rather than merely requesting quotes from randomly selected airlines, the online travel service exchanger first requests quotes from one preferred airline at a time in descending order of preference until the offer is satisfied. If no preferred airline satisfies the offer, the online travel service exchanger may request quotes from a group of non-preferred airlines. The online travel service exchanger then satisfies, if possible, the offer with one of the quotes from the non-preferred airlines.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to electronic commerce. More specifically, the invention relates to the purchase of travel services, such as airfare, in an electronic exchange transaction.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]More and more people are purchasing goods and services electronically, such as over the Internet. Electronic exchange systems are achieving widespread use in the area of travel arrangements. These systems provide an outlet for suppliers having surplus inventory, and often allow consumers to obtain desired goods or services at below-market rates. One such system of electronic exchange is used by “online travel service exchangers” and allows customers to place an offer for travel services, such as airfare or airline accommodations. However, existing online travel service exchangers suffer from various problems. For instance, existing systems do not allow individual travel service providers to better their chances at being selected as the winn...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]When a customer offer is received, the travel service exchanger may attempt to satisfy the customer offer from published fares (e.g., “rack rates”) for the desired travel services. For example, a customer's offer for airfare between two cities at a certain price may be higher than a rate at which the customer can purchase the airfare without the aid of the electronic exchange process. In that case, the travel service exchanger acts as an electronic travel agent, and satisfies the customer's offer without resorting to the preferred or non-preferred groups and charges the customer the published rate (rather than the full value of the offer). In the more common situation where the customer offer is below the published fares, the travel service exchanger requests rate information from the highest-ranked provider in the preferred provider group for the travel services identified in the customer offer. The highest-ranked provider may return one or more fares. The travel service exchanger compares the fares returned by the highest-ranked provider to the customer offer. If the offer can be satisfied by the highest-ranked provider, then the offer is matched with the highest rate supplied by the highest-ranked provider and the airfare is booked. If the offer cannot be satisfied by any of the fares supplied by the highest-ranked provider, then the travel service exchanger moves to the next-highest ranked provider and repeats the request. The request is made to each preferred provider, in order of preference, until either the customer offer is satisfied, or the preferred provider group is exhausted, meaning that none of the preferred providers were able to satisfy the customer offer within the constraints of the preferential rankings.

[0007]If customer offer is not satisfied by the preferred providers, the travel service exchanger moves to the non-preferred provider group. The travel service exchanger then issues requests to each non-preferred provider for fares on the travel services described in the customer offer. The travel service exchanger then selects a rate from those returned as a match for the customer offer. The travel service exchanger may base the selection of a matching rate on the lowest rate, the least restrictive rate, the highest rate that still affords the travel service exchanger a reasonable profit, a random selection, or any other criteria. It should be noted that the fares supplied by the preferred providers, although not satisfying the constraints of the preferential treatment, may still be used in the non-preferred provider analysis. In addition, when evaluating whether a rate satisfies the customer offer, the travel service exchanger includes the actual taxes that will be imposed on the purchase transaction to ensure that the customer is not surprised by a charge that exceeds the customer offer because of taxes. Finally, if a satisfactory rate is selected, the travel services are booked with the corresponding service provider.

Problems solved by technology

However, existing online travel service exchangers suffer from various problems.

For instance, existing systems do not allow individual travel service providers to better their chances at being selected as the winner of the offer.

Travel service providers are not incentivized to offer more-attractive rates that will increase the likelihood that a customer offer will be accepted.

In other words, even if the purchaser's offer exceeds a published rate for the travel services, existing schemes punish the purchaser by charging her the full value of the offer.

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